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A reactionless drive (also known by many other names, including as an inertial propulsion engine, a reactionless thruster, a reactionless engine, a bootstrap drive or an inertia drive) is a fictional or theorized method of propulsion wherein thrust is generated without any need for an outside force or net momentum exchange to produce linear motion. The name comes from Newton's Third Law of Motion, which is usually expressed as, "[f]or every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". Such a drive would necessarily violate laws of classical physics, the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy. In spite of their physical impossibility, devices such as the "Dean Drive" are a staple of science fiction, particularly for space propulsion. Devices and methods are still being proposed as working technologies only now they are based on the real or imagined principles from modern physics.Contents
Historical attempts
Through the years there have been numerous claims for functional reactionless drive designs using ordinary mechanics (i.e., devices not said to be based on quantum mechanics, relativity or atomic forces or effects). Two of these represent their general classes: The "Dean drive" is perhaps the best known example of a "linear oscillating mechanism" reactionless drive; The "GIT" is perhaps the best known example of a "rotating mechanism" reactionless drive. These two also stand out as they both received much publicity from their promoters and the popular press in their day and both were eventually rejected when proven to not produce any reactionless drive forces. The rise and fall of these devices now serves as cautionary tale for those making and reviewing similar claims.[1]Dean drive
Main article: Dean drive
The Dean drive was a mechanical device concept promoted by
inventor Norman L. Dean. Dean claimed that his device was a
"reactionless thruster" and that his working models could demonstrate
this effect. He held several private demonstrations but never revealed
the exact design of the models nor allowed independent analysis of them.[2][3]
Dean's claims of reactionless thrust generation were subsequently shown
to be in error and the "thrust" producing the directional motion was
likely to be caused by friction between the device and the surface on
which the device was resting and would not work in free space.[1][4]Gyroscopic Inertial Thruster (GIT)
The Gyroscopic Inertial Thruster is a proposed reactionless drive based on the mechanical principles of a rotating mechanism. The concept involves various methods of leverage applied against the supports of a large gyroscope. The supposed operating principle of a GIT is a mass traveling around a circular trajectory at a variable speed. The high-speed part of the trajectory allegedly generates greater centrifugal force than the low, so that there is a greater thrust in one direction than the other.[5] Scottish inventor Sandy Kidd, a former RAF radar technician, investigated the possibility (without success) in the 1980s.[6] He posited that a gyroscope set at various angles could provide a lifting force, defying gravity.[7] In the 1990s, several people sent suggestions to the Space Exploration Outreach Program (SEOP) at NASA recommending that NASA study a gyroscopic inertial drive, especially the developments attributed to the American inventor Robert Cook and the Canadian inventor Roy Thornson.[5] In the 1990s and 2000s, enthusiasts attempted the building and testing of GIT machines.[8] Eric Laithwaite, the "Father of Maglev", received a US patent for his "Propulsion System", which was claimed to create a linear thrust through gyroscopic and inertial forces.[9] After years of theoretical analysis and laboratory testing of actual devices, no rotating (or any other) mechanical device has ever been found to produce unidirectional reactionless thrust in free space.[1]Quasi-reactionless methods
Several kinds of thrust generating methods are in use that are sometimes regarded as reactionless because these methods do not work like rockets and reaction mass is not expelled from the spacecraft during their application.- Electrodynamic tethers do not expel reaction mass like a rocket.[10] However, as electromagnetic fields can carry energy and momentum,[11] tethers do have a mechanism for momentum transfer, and hence are not reactionless.
- Gravitational assist is a field propulsion technique frequently used for interplanetary probes. The probe does not expel propellant but the interaction is not reactionless. Thrust obtained by the spacecraft while passing a planet from the gravitational field of the planet, momentum is taken from the planet and conferred on the spacecraft and thus is conserved overall.
- Solar sails provide thrust by placing "sails" against the flow of particles of the solar wind and transfer its momentum to the spacecraft. Therefore, the solar sail does not carry reaction mass but is not reactionless.
Modern approaches
Although the laws of classical physics regard reactionless propulsion as impossible, hypothetical methods based on principles from quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, relativity and nuclear physics have been put forward that would create similar effects without, the authors claim, violating any laws of physics. So far none of these methods have been unambiguously demonstrated to work in free space.- The Alcubierre drive is a hypothetical method of propulsion postulated from the theory of general relativity. Although this concept is allowed by the currently accepted laws of physics, it remains unproven. It is not clear how (or if) this effect could provide a useful means of accelerating an actual space vehicle and no practical designs have been proposed.[12]
- The EmDrive is an electromagnetic-radiation-based device. One experimental device design consists of a closed asymmetric resonant cavity that is flooded with microwave radiation during operation. It is claimed that it produces reactionless thrust from the differential in the radiation pressure on the interior walls of the closed resonant cavity.
- The micronewton electromagnetic thruster is an electromagnetically powered device. A 2012 experiment was reported to produce unidirectional motion.[13]
- The Woodward effect is a hypothesis that predicts that an electromechanical device can generate a unidirectional force if certain assumptions regarding the nature of inertia are true. Experiments to conclusively demonstrate this effect have been ongoing since the 1990s.
- The quantum vacuum plasma thruster is a quantum-mechanics-based device. This device is predicted to produce thrust by directing the charged particles produced by quantum vacuum fluctuations with electromagnetic fields. An experimental device has been proposed but not yet tested.
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